Fitbit formally makes its India debut

Fitbit has formally entered the Indian market by launching its complete range of fitness bands both online and offline.Danish Khan | ET Bureau | August 26, 2015, 09:26 IST

Fitbit has formally entered the Indian market by launching its complete range of fitness bands both online and offline.Fitbit has formally entered the Indian market by launching its complete range of fitness bands both online and offline, and is aiming to become the No. 1 player in the local market in the near future.

The company expects India to be among its top 5 markets in next couple of years, Chief Revenue Officer Woody Scal told ET. The Indian market is currently led by Chinese company Xiaomi with its Mi Band, according to Counterpoint Research.

Founded by James Park and Eric Friedman in 2007, San Francisco-based Fitbit claims to lead the US fitness tracker market with an 85% share as of March 2015, up from 67% a year earlier. Its revenue more than tripled from a year earlier in the quarter through March 2015, Scal said.

According to Fitbit, its products can be synchronised with more than 200 smartphones running on iOS, Android and Windows operating systems, as well as Apple’s Mac OS. “Most of our competitors in India are syncing to their own platform and trying to drive their own handset sales. It is just a cheap way to drive handset sales,” Scal said.

In India, the market for wearables is embryonic, selling a handful of products like smartwatches and fitness bands launched by handset makers such as Samsung, Sony, Motorola and Alcatel One Touch.

The fitness band segment however has lately seen some action with players like Xiaomi, Micromax, and GOQii making their products available at competitive price points. Fitbit too soft launched its bands in June, offering them on Amazon India.

The company will now offer its products through partnerships with Reliance Digital, Croma and Helios, which will sell Fitbit’s seven products, priced between Rs 3,990 and Rs 19,990. There are several cheaper products available in the Indian market from rival companies.

“Considering Fitbit’s price points, we believe it will be difficult to capture the lion’s share in the wearable segment here,” said Counterpoint Senior Analyst Tarun Pathak. “It not only needs to bring customers in its ecosystem but also make sure that they don’t abandon it after a few months of purchase, which is still a case with most of the wearables out there in the market.”

Currently, smart bands or fitness bands are seeing better uptake in the market as compared to smartwatches since people don’t know much about the usage of the latter, analysts said.

Sales of wearable devices such as smartwatches and fitness bands in India totalled one lakh units in 2014 and are expected to grow to a million in 2015, according to Counterpoint.

The firm said the Indian market reached three lakh units by end of the second quarter of 2015. Of this, the share of activity trackers such as fitness bands was 85% and smartwatches contributed to rest of 15%.

According to Pathak, standalone devices bundled with various incentives such as discounts on health items, lesser premium on health insurance and discount on doctors consultation based on wearable history and track record are some aspects that will further motivate and drive the adoption of fitness bands in India.

Fitbit is foraying in the market with an extensive marketing plan to reach out to mass audiences. It will soon come out with a TV commercial and print campaign.

The fitness band maker has also roped in Bollywood celebrities Shraddha Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and the world's leading badminton player Saina Nehwal. The major communication for the Indian market would be on spreading the awareness around a healthy lifestyle, Scal said. Scal however declined to share the marketing budget for this year.